Monday, January 31, 2011

Sunday 30 Jan, 2011 A Country Break

Marysville - I used to come camping here and at Narbethong a lot before Black Saturday.

Two years on , it is both heartening and so sad to see the rebuilding that is happening here in what was once, and will be again, a bustling vibrant and beautiful township. The trees are slowly cladding themselves in new foliage, so odd to see gum trees swathed in green tinsel like this.

But there are also huge patches of mountainside that are still charred and show no sign of green yet. I miss the wildlife although locals have said that the birds have returned and numbers are very slowly increasing.

Very happy to see the lolly shop is planning on rebuilding this March, currently they are operating from a shipping container. I love their spirit and vivacity.

Look at the types of plants that have survived and are springing back to life in long abandoned gardens...wisteria is pretty hardy then it seems! Lots of it can be seen around empty blocks.

And how heart warming to see people in the town raising money for the QLDers hit by floods. If people who have suffered so much loss can still find the spirit to help others, why can't we all be willing to do the same and more.

We returned to a special place to us in the heart of the Yarra Valley. It was lovely to watch the kangaroos from our windows at dawn and dusk.

Old apple orchard. Waiting until the apples are ripe enough for plucking!

Had to leave early on Sunday to return home because I worried so much about The Bok Flock and how they would cope with the heat - 40 degrees - we got home and hosed them down with a light sprinkle every hour in addition to sprinkling ice under their favourite trees to cool the ground down. Feel so sorry for them. In hot scorching weather like this, being outside is like being under the constant nozzle of a hot hair dryer. It's hot again today so I hope they'll be ok.

Also harvested a few vegies before it got too hot. Saw a cucumber peeking through from behind the trellis, had never even noticed it there before! It's huge!

Love to see community gardens like this one which was found on the edge of a car park next to a few supermarkets. Terrific to see organic and home grown produce in so many places. I hope it encourages more people to start gardens of their own. It has strengthened my resolve to get a few apple crates to plant up more vegies! Can't plant vegies in many places in my garden because really only the driveway gets all the sunlight which is why we've got the vegie bed running the length of it.

3 comments:

I am presuming there was a forest fire where you took the photos of plant life returning. We hear of forest fires but as we don't have them here we are not aware of the huge environmetal impact which can last for years. Still very cold here in Ireland we don't have to worry about over heating!

Hi Peggy, yes there were terrible bushfires in Victoria coming up on 2 years ago on Feb 7, referred to as 'Black Saturday'. We had the highest loss of life due to bushfire and it just decimated whole townships and forest. Nearly 8000 people were displaced as a result and the land is only just starting to regrow, it will take decades before the forests recover. It's so so sad. Still amazing to see the regrowth though!